Contrary to its title, The Drama is quite a funny movie. But it’s not a comedy in the traditional sense, seeking to amuse or offer you a good time. If you were to describe many of its funniest moments to someone, they might react with disgust and ask, “How the hell could you find that funny?” Honestly, that wouldn’t be an overreaction, because I felt a little guilty every time I chuckled, looking around at the rest of the audience to make sure I wasn’t some sort of sicko.

This is a film that starts with the question: How would the people closest to you react if they found out about the worst thing you've ever done? From there, it (correctly) assumes that sleeping dogs won’t lie, the harsh truth boiling to the surface, eventually erupting in the most ugly way possible. If modern humanity has proven itself adept at one thing, it’s making things worse than they initially were for seemingly no apparent reason.

The film opens with a meet-cute that is not very cute. Charlie (Robert Pattinson) walks by a high-end Boston coffee shop and notices Emma (Zendaya) in the window. Understandably irresistibly drawn to her, he sits down at a table and thinks of an excuse to talk to her. He notices she’s reading a book, so he quickly gorges on the Wikipedia summary. In a sheepish and drawn-out manner, he walks up and lies about how much the book meant to him. It turns out that she’s deaf in the ear facing him, so she didn’t get any of it. Now he’s standing there like a fool, and she’s totally confused as to what his intentions are.

In Charlie’s eyes, that’s a story worth sharing with everyone, which is why he’s using it as the leadoff for his wedding speech to Emma. They seemingly became an idyllic couple, despite having a poster for Ingmar Bergman’s The Passion of Anna in their cozy apartment, which is something that just invites trouble. The premonition comes to fruition once best friends Mike (Mamoudou) and Rachel (Alana Haim) dare Charlie and Emma to confess their worst sins. Each of their sins is shameful in its own right. However, Emma’s is exponentially worse than the rest, requiring several moments to confirm that she isn’t telling some sick joke.

For the characters and us, there’s no shaking the reveal. You can’t simply refuse to meet it, both because there’s still an hour left on the running time, and because its nature is so intertwined with America’s fractured DNA that you’d be refuting what’s in the mirror. Writer/director Kristoffer Borgli pulled off a similar concept with cancel culture in his previous film, Dream Scenario. That film was a lot more overtly funny than this one, giving a little more allowance to finding the humor in the absurdity. Now the target has been zeroed in, so there’s no escape.

Despite now being a forty-year-old pretending to be a younger adult, Pattinson still has that twitchy, youthful energy. He becomes a nervous wreck, conflating the good memories he had with Emma with the newly discovered awful revelations about her past. Borgli lets us into his mind by intermingling those pictures, continually crosscutting as if the disease is taking over. His sanity is squeezed out to make room, with several awfully uncomfortable scenes stemming from the breakdown.

By nature of Pattinson being the one reacting to the secret, Zendaya takes on a slightly passive role. However, she’s going all-in here, putting her image as a Disney Channel and MCU actress through the ultimate test. Everyone wants to fully deny or twist her past into something that can be diagnosed, which just digs the hole even deeper. And until they learn their lesson (which they don’t, and won’t), they’re going to find out how much a little drama can bring down the whole house.

A24 will release The Drama in theaters nationwide on April 03rd.